This is the story of Khaled Agha, who came to Canada as a refugee in 2016 when he was 18 years old. He and his family are now settled in Ottawa, and he is hard at work at college, studying English. Please share and help us in our effort to sponsor Khaled’s uncle, aunt and cousins, [...]

One of the most important things in life is family, and it can be very difficult to live apart from them. The feeling that you're left out of a family event, forgetting what your brother or sister or their children look like. I used to feel miserable and sad when I’d hear family members [...]

Get your tickets now for OCRA's fundraising dinner on Friday, November 24, 2017 at 7 p.m. Your $60 will help us sponsor refugee families, and you'll enjoy a delicious and authentic Syrian meal prepared by Yasmin, a catering company started by one of OCRA's very own settled refugees! There will be raffles, silent auctions [...]

OCRA is excited for Canada Day! Watch some of our families share birthday wishes and their favourite things about Canada. See the video here or watch and share it on facebook. Help us bring more families to Canada - Donate Now.

OCRA will be selling at this year’s GGGS! Stop by and get some bargains for a great cause! We will be set up at 164 and 166 Glebe Ave. (corner of Lyon St.). Proceeds will go to our efforts to help privately sponsor close relatives of our settled families who continue to live in vulnerable [...]

OCRA 2.0 is our ongoing effort to help our refugee families and to promote refugee settlement. The single most important issue that our refugee families have identified, over and over again, is the plight of their close family members who were left behind and are living in vulnerable circumstances in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. [...]

We want to shout out a huge THANK YOU to all of the donors and volunteers involved in our 2016 settlement effort. What an amazing accomplishment by community members joining together in common cause, and with such Wissam Agha enthusiasm and commitment! So many gave so much of their time and skill, and [...]

Members of OCRA teamed up to write an article for The Glebe Report. The 2.5 page spread appeared in the December 2016 issue. In the article they discuss how OCRA was formed, our story so far, and some of the successes and challenges we’ve had along the way. One of our new arrivals also wrote [...]

Last week, the Senate Committee released their report - Finding Refuge in Canada: A Syrian Resettlement Story. As you may know, OCRA was asked to appear before the Senate Human Rights Committee in October – Our statement to the Committee highlighted several areas of concern for refugee settlement including the importance of access to language [...]

Angela Keller-Herzog at Senate Human Rights Committee hearing OCRA was asked to appear before the Senate Human Rights Committee on October 19, 2016. In our statement to the Committee we highlighted three areas of concern for refugee settlement - The most important and immediate concerns family reunification. The most urgent and pressing need [...]